Brooks Tegler Big Band's re-creation of 1938 show a shining night of swing Benny Goodman concert was hallmark for jazz

January 22, 1998|By Mary Johnson | Mary Johnson,SPECIAL TO THE SUN

Chesapeake Music Hall on U.S. 50 might be a far cry from Carnegie Hall in New York. But it was a magical place Sunday night as the Brooks Tegler Big Band re-created the historic 1938 Benny Goodman concert at the famous New York site.

With clarinetist Joe Midiri playing Goodman's solos and the 14-piece band cooking behind him, you could have closed your eyes and thought you were in Carnegie Hall the first time jazz was played there. That concert is said to have legitimized jazz.

Sunday's concert was part of the Jazz at the Music Hall series produced by John Tegler, Brooks' father.

The younger Tegler, a virtuoso drummer, put together this band with players from Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania and New Jersey (Midiri lives in Atlantic City). And it's a tribute to their musicianship that they could pull off a concert such as this when they get together only two or three times a year.

From the opening notes of "Don't Be That Way," the capacity crowd, which ranged in age from Generation X to the generation that stomped at the Savoy, was enthralled.

The trio numbers -- "Avalon," "I Got Rhythm" and "Stompin' at the Savoy" -- were warm and intimate with Midiri on clarinet, his brother, Paul Midiri, in the Lionel Hampton role on vibes and Larry Eanet playing piano as if he were Teddy Wilson.

In the role of vocalist Martha Tilton was "Liltin' " Erica Romberg, who delivered classics such as "Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen" and "Loch Lomond" with wit and style.

The Jazz at the Music Hall series continues April 19 with a tribute to Woody Herman's big bands. Don Junker and his big band will fill the roles of Herman and his Herd.